Tag: HIV | CATIE Blog

Realizing PrEP’s full potential: It’s time to broaden awareness and access

November 19, 2024 • By Mallory Harrigan

PrEP is a highly effective tool for preventing HIV, but remains underused by many populations who could benefit. In order to realize PrEP’s full potential to dramatically reduce the number of HIV transmissions in Canada, there’s an urgent need to scale up its use and broaden its reach. Promisingly, PrEP has played a role in reducing the number of HIV transmissions among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM), who make up the vast majority of people currently using PrEP in Canada. For example, studies have shown that PrEP contributed to declines in HIV transmissions among...

Strong Medicine: Seven years later

November 13, 2024 • By Danita Wahpoosewyan and Trevor Stratton

In 2018, CATIE and CAAN (Communities, Alliances & Networks) released Strong Medicine, a film by and for Indigenous people living with HIV. The film weaves together Indigenous knowledges of culture and wellness with Western knowledge of HIV testing and treatment. By sharing their experiences with Indigenous and Western medicines, eight Indigenous activists teach us that HIV isn’t something to be feared and show us different ways to walk the healing path. Seven years after Strong Medicine was released, CATIE spoke with two of its stars, Danita Wahpoosewyan and Trevor Stratton, to reflect on what has changed, what has remained the...

Understanding Canada’s progress towards global HIV targets

July 18, 2024 • By Public Health Agency of Canada

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) recently released an infographic with national estimates on Canada’s Progress Towards Ending the HIV Epidemic. These estimates help provide an understanding of the effectiveness of current responses to HIV in Canada and can help identify areas for improvement to guide HIV prevention and care work. However, it can sometimes be difficult to understand what the estimates are really saying. So, let’s explore some helpful tips for interpreting the data. What do the HIV estimates tell us? Progress towards the 95-95-95 global targets are evaluated by using four measures: Based on the recently released...

HIV law reform: Chad Clarke and Colin Johnson discuss HIV decriminalization

July 2, 2024 • By Chad Clarke and Colin Johnson

Anger! Disappointment! Betrayal! Equivocation! Disquietude! These are the emotions that overwhelm Chad Edward Clarke on any given day, yet he remains committed to his cause: to change the way that the Canadian justice system has dealt with HIV non-disclosure through criminalization. Chad was recently awarded the first HIV is Not A Crime Leadership Award by the Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization (CCHRC) and shares his story below with one of the coalition’s steering committee members, Colin Johnson. Colin Johnson: Chad, I know that you’ve told your story many times before, but it needs to be heard. Let’s start with...

A conversation between Dr. Theresa Tam and Jade Elektra

February 29, 2024 • By Dr. Theresa Tam and Jade Elektra

Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U) refers to the scientific consensus that HIV cannot be sexually transmitted when a person living with HIV consistently takes antiretroviral therapy (ART) and the amount of HIV in their blood remains very low—so low that it cannot be detected by many standard HIV tests. While the U=U message empowers people living with HIV and reduces stigma associated with the virus, it is only effective if individuals living with HIV are able to continuously take their medication. Some people in Canada, such as African, Caribbean and Black communities, Indigenous people, gay, bisexual, and other men who have...

AIDS Action Now! is disbanding

December 12, 2023 • By Darien Taylor

After 35 years of fierce activism, AIDS Action Now!, the HIV treatment activist group, is shutting down. AIDS Action Now! was formed in Toronto in 1988 as a community-based response to the lack of institutional leadership regarding treatment and healthcare for people living with HIV/AIDS. Its strategy was to combine confrontational public demonstrations with strategic documents and “behind the scenes” meetings with government and institutional leaders. These meetings pushed decision-makers to respond more forcefully to HIV healthcare at a time when it was highly stigmatized and few treatment options were available. Guided by a steering committee composed mostly of people...